Persuaded
by NatzandtheRatz
Summary: PostDMC. Elizabeth discovers she has more in common with Barbossa than she had thought. One shot. Forgot to put a disclaimer in, so here it be instead: I own nothing in this story but my obsessional love. Disney owns everything else.


The sticky, sweet air within Tia Dalma's shack writhed around the remnants of the Black Pearl's crew like a bad dream. Each crewman sat in a stupor, still numbed from witnessing the miraculous return of Captain Jack Sparrow's mutinous former first mate. Said first mate had abruptly disappeared, perhaps to escape the forbidding heat of the shack, which he was now able to feel, and perhaps to let his new crew recover from their collective shock.

After Captain Barbossa's departure, silence stole in; more oppressive than the heat. Cotton's parrot was unnaturally quiet, and even Gibbs did not offer any comments on their new Captain. Will resumed attacking the table with his knife, determinedly ignoring those closest to him. Nobody even looked at each other. Then Ragetti sneezed and his eye fell out, and the spell was broken. Everybody began talking at once.

Gibbs loudly assured everyone that he knew all along Barbossa would be back eventually; that it was an ill day for them all. Pintel and Ragetti began gibbering at each other, wondering how terrible Barbossa's punishment would be for their allying with Captain Sparrow. Cotton's parrot squawked "Mutiny!" several times.

Eventually somebody had to ask. And it was Will.

"I saw him die. I watched as he was shot in the heart. How is he here?"

Tia Dalma smiled her wide mysterious smile and said nothing.

"Never mind that!" Gibbs said heatedly. "How can ye expect us to follow Barbossa? He betrayed Jack! He'd kill us all, given half a chance." The rest of the crew murmured their agreement.

The voodoo woman smiled even wider, showing off black teeth.

"Find yourselves anodda Captin back from de dead, and you welcome to follow him."

Although still unhappy with the prospect of following their old enemy, the crew found they could muster no reply to this. As the silence descended again, no-one noticed a second pirate had disappeared from the room.

Outside, Elizabeth Swann leaned against the ragged wall of the shack, relieved to be away from the heated air and heated conversation. She did not wish to debate how Barbossa had come back. She was not surprised to find herself already dully resigned to Barbossa's return. Everyone else was in uproar, but Elizabeth readily accepted it. This was a man who had turned from a flesh-and-blood person to a rotting corpse before her very eyes. Compared to that, resurrection was mundane.

Besides, she had another reason for not wanting to hear the crew talk of people who had betrayed Jack Sparrow. A familiar squirming feeling began in her stomach at the thought of her last encounter with Captain Jack, which she recognised as guilt. What would the crew say, if they knew the truth of Jack's supposedly selfless sacrifice? Would they consider her to be the same as Barbossa? Would Will?

Will. He had not spoken to her without a look of utmost pain in his eyes since they had left the Pearl. Did he know what she had done? She felt dirty. Just a few days ago she remembered mocking Jack's personal hygiene, saying it was one of the fundamental differences between them. It seemed years ago now. She wondered if she'd ever truly feel clean again. She doubted any amount of bathing would free her from contamination.

And as if she didn't feel dirty enough, Barbossa appeared beside her. She readied herself for the barrage of taunts that was sure to follow. But the silence from inside had pursued them out here, seemingly, as Barbossa said nothing; merely crunched on his apple.

When it was finished he threw the core into the river, gurgling softly beneath them. Even nature did not want to break the silence.

"Was there something you wanted?" Snapped Elizabeth, after a while, surprised to find herself the first to speak. The best defence was attack, after all.

"Only some pleasurable company."He replied, offhandedly, flashing rotten teeth.

"I'm afraid the pleasure would only be yours, _Captain_." She said scornfully.

"Now, y'see, I'm not quite ready to believe that." He grinned wickedly.

"What do you mean?"

"Just a moment ago the rest of me new crew were givin' me looks that'd give Davy Jones a shiver, I'd wager. But yeh... well, I'd say ye were the only one in that room who didn't fancy cuttin' me throat."

"You're mistaken." She said stiffly. Truth was, she was still too preoccupied with her final deed on the Pearl to be overly concerned with hating Barbossa.

"Ah, you're right o' course. If memory serves, you were more likely thinkin' o' stabbing me with a butter knife." He grinned again. Elizabeth grimaced.

"This may come as a surprise, but I have more pressing matters to worry about than you." She said acidly. Instantly she knew she had revealed too much. Barbossa looked thrilled.

"Trouble in paradise, eh? I did wonder why yer whelp was givin' ye the cold shoulder."

"Nonsense." She said crisply "I was talking about Jack."

"And who says I weren't?" He said, looking at her steadily. Elizabeth's insides turned to ice. She blushed, suddenly feeling much warmer than she had inside the shack, despite the cool night air. She found she had nothing to say in return.

"Not to worry. Jack always had his way with whoever he had a fancy for, sooner or later." He said, his yellow eyes glittering oddly.

"You don't know what you're talking about." She said through clenched teeth, fireflies buzzing around her.

"Enlighten me, then. Don't tell me ye had _yer _way with _him_." He challenged, half playfully, half dangerously.

Elizabeth paused. This was something she had not told anyone, something she couldn't even bring herself to tell Will. But Barbossa's vicious sneer and laughing eyes wouldn't leave her be.

"That's right, I did." She said slowly, something like triumph creeping into her voice. "You had better congratulate me. I succeeded where you never could. I killed Jack Sparrow."

There was a palpable pause. She didn't know what Barbossa would do. Laugh? Tell Will what she'd done?

Instead, the pirate looked at her for a long moment.

"Is that so?"

"Yes." She replied, noticing how calm her voice was. "I- I _distracted _him, and chained him to the mast. We left the Pearl, and the Kraken came. They all think he sacrificed himself." She gestured wildy towards the shack, perhaps to compensate for the unnatural calmness she felt inside.

Barbossa gave her a shrewd look.

"I did wonder how far ye'd take it. Or rather, how far it'd take you."

"What do you mean?" She said tiredly.

"That mercenary streak o' yours. Knew ye had one, as soon as ye let that cursed medallion drop an inch."

"Oh, that," She said witheringly, "I know. I'm a _pirate_, never mind the parasols and petticoats and personal hygiene. I've already been informed of that."

Barbossa's yellow eyes shone suddenly.

"Have ye now? And may I ask _who _exactly did the informing, hmm? No, don't tell me. Jack Sparrow." He smiled a strange, far-off smile, as if finally understanding a joke he'd heard a while ago.

"How did you -" She began, but Barbossa carried on, talking more to himself than her, or at least it seemed that way to Elizabeth.

"And I wouldn't be surprised to hear he told ye this fact about yeself sometime after a little chat ye both had concerning _persuasion_."

Elizabeth gaped. She nodded.

"Aye. I knew it. Ye may have chained Jack to the mast, but it were Jack Sparrow who caused it. He's much more an enemy to himself than I ever was to him."

"What do you mean, 'Jack _caused _it'? _I_ decided to do it." She said increduously.

"Ye'll have to ask yerself, missy; would ye have done it, if Jack Sparrrow hadn't told ye that ye were a pirate?"

Elizabeth said nothing for a while.

"You speak of this as if it's happened before-" And instantly she realised how Barbossa knew all this. "The mutiny?"

Barbosa smiled wistfully, and looked Elizabeth directly in the eyes.

"Before I joined Jack Sparrow's crew I were an honest sailor, I swear on the Good Book, I were. And after three days with him-" He stopped suddenly, and stepped away from her, but turned back after a moment.

"I wouldn't feel too guilty, Miss Swann. Yeh'll find death don't agree with Jack Sparrow." He said, a trace of sadness clinging to his words. He extended an arm and dropped something into her hand, and then retreated back into the shack.

Elizabeth stared after him for a long while. Finally she looked down to see what he'd given her. An apple. She looked at it. And, without hesitating, bit into it deeply.


End file.
